It’s a Wednesday afternoon at Nanook’s headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica. Young artists are painting the property’s exterior concrete wall a brilliant shade of yellow, priming it for a new mural. Reggae music plays…

Nothing says “I love you” quite like a Valentine’s Gift. But why stop at just another romantic greeting card and bouquet of roses? Why not consider some of the more individualistic, more quirky gift-items ...
The post 6…

Part 1 of this series introduced some of the key issues in the world of Caribbean IPR. Part 2 will take a look at the need for increased regional co-operation and the role of ...
The post IP in the Caribbean: The Need for Regional Solidarity…

Here's the 39th Never Too Late compilation of short notes on all those Katposts that you might have missed last week. Once again this list has been masterminded by our dear friend and colleague Alberto Bellan. Many thanks, Alberto! May…

The Nagoya Protocol entered into effect for the EU on 12 October 2014 (see IPKat post here). On that day, the "Regulation No 511/2014 on compliance measures for users from the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the…

Litigation with friends: a Scramble for Scrabble in the Court of Appeal

It occasionally happens that an important case comes along for which there isn't an available Kat to write a blog-post. Conflicts of interest can take their toll. So it was here, that last week the Court of Appeal for England and Wales handed…

Chemicals and innovation: Strategies for R&amp;D in emerging economies)

Chemicals and innovation: Strategies for R&D in emerging economies Courtsy by John Baker Strategies for R&D in emerging economies ICIS has run several roundtables recently where innovation has risen as a topic,…

Indian brings “Minority Report” like hand gestures navigation called “SixthSense” to reality

Remember the scene in the movie Minority Report where Tom Cruise uses hand gestures instead of a mouse to interact with a computer screen displayed on the wall?
Pranav Mistry has brought this to close to reality with USD 320 devices..

IPTAblog

Back in 2005, I wrote that Google Print "may single-handedly keep the copyright-related blog world in business for the next few years." Eight years later, the Southen District of New York decisively granted Google's motion for…

At Time's Techland Blog, Ben Bajarin writes: Why We Want TV to Be Disrupted So Badly. I was at the Consumer Electronics Show where [Tivo and ReplayTV] debuted, and their booths were as packed as any on the show floor....

Apple's Developer Site was hacked. All Things D reports; Apple Developer Center Was Hacked; Site Remains Down While Company Overhauls Security In their notification, Apple notes that they are letting developers know about this attack "in…

In 2014 there were 1,070 fewer patent lawsuits filed than during 2013. Furthermore, the number of patent cases filed in 2014 was lower than the number of cases filed in 2012 by some 433 cases. Therefore, the stories of continued run away…

There was a split in the circuit courts as to what effect a TTAB decision will have, and this depends heavily upon where the litigation is happening. The weight of a TTAB decision will vary depending on the jurisdiction, ranging from none at…

The USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs and the International Trade Administration, has an opening for an IP Attaché position in Mexico City, Mexico. This high-profile diplomatic position requires a law…

In 2014 there were 1,070 fewer patent lawsuits filed than during 2013. Furthermore, the number of patent cases filed in 2014 was lower than the number of cases filed in 2012 by some 433 cases. Therefore, the stories of continued run away…

There was a split in the circuit courts as to what effect a TTAB decision will have, and this depends heavily upon where the litigation is happening. The weight of a TTAB decision will vary depending on the jurisdiction, ranging from none at…

The USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs and the International Trade Administration, has an opening for an IP Attaché position in Mexico City, Mexico. This high-profile diplomatic position requires a law…

Savir v. Bar-Noy raises interesting questions of search engine liability, and is the first case in Israel that responds (judicially speaking) to the recent decision of the European Court of Justice regarding the “right to be…

Savir v. Bar-Noy raises interesting questions of search engine liability, and is the first case in Israel that responds (judicially speaking) to the recent decision of the European Court of Justice regarding the “right to be…

Google “Remarketing” is a service that allows Internet advertisers to show advertisements to users that have previously visited their website. In this interesting case, the plaintiffs asserted that this “Remarketing”…

On July 25, 2014 Valeo North America, Inc. of Troy, Michigan and Delmex de Juarez S. de R.L. de C.V. of Mexico (collectively, “Valeo”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section…

On July 25, 2014, Bose Corp. of Framingham, Massachusetts (“Bose”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337. The complaint alleges that Beats Electronics, LLC of Culver City,…

Lights, camera, action…wait where are the actors? Interestingly, Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum have not made many press appearances to promote their new film Jupiter Ascending. One has to wonder if it was a ploy by the…

The unique thing about being an entertainment lawyer is…find out in my recent interview with CBS Local Chicago, here: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/01/05/chicago-lawyer-adds-entertainment-to-her-law-firm/

Who doesn’t love a spoonful of Nutella? The sweet hazelnut spread has become a popular indulgence with chocolate lovers everywhere, but for one Park Slope restaurant it seems their indulgence has offended the Nutella parent company,…

Everyone who tuned into the Super bowl witnessed the Half-Time show featuring Katy Perry. While Katy may have been the star, according to social media accounts across the nation, “Left Shark” stole the show. It didn’t take…

YouTube has reportedly paid out a whopping $1 billion to various copyright holders since 2007 as part of the Google’s Content ID program. Content ID Program According to Google, the program scans 400 years’ worth of content daily…

My friends and colleagues Daralyn Durie, Ragesh Tangri, Mark Lemley, Clem Roberts, and Ryan Kent have formed a new law firm — and I’m joining them as their first (and, for the moment, only) associate. The press release follows.
KEKER &…

I’m liveblogging today from the University of San Francisco School of Law Fair Use Symposium. The first panel is called “Real Lawyers, Real Cases.” The panelists:
J. Thomas McCarthy (USF, Moderator)
Annette Hurst (Orrick)
Jason…

JOTWELL - The Journal of Things We Like (Lots)

Edited by University of Miami School of Law Professor Michael Froomkin, The Journal of Things We Like (Lots)–JOTWELL–invites law professors to join us in filling a telling gap in legal scholarship by creating a space where legal academics will go to identify, celebrate, and discuss the best new legal scholarship.

Perry J. Saidman
Kerry W. Leonard
Saidman Designlaw Group, LLC
Full Article
In order to “promote the Progress of Science and useful
Arts,”2 the U.S. Constitution granted Congress the power
to create and legislate a…

K's law

I am aware of the following blogs that present decisions of the Boards of appeal on a regular basis:In English:• Jelle Terpsma publishes quite regularly on his EQE Tools website (here).• DeltaPatents has started blogging with 5…

Perhaps some of my orphaned readers intend to do some case law blogging or to explore the wonderful world of fresh DG3 decisions on their own. I thought they might find the following useful. I have prepared two short notes on how I…

As announced some time ago, I will become a member of the Boards of appeal in 2014, which means that I cannot be a case law blogger any more.I had the intention of continuing the blog for some more weeks, but as it turns out, I have run out…

Las Vegas Trademark Attorney

It’s hard to believe that Righthaven, the company that was going to change the news media business by applying the patent lawsuit business model to the enforcement of copyrights, filed its first series of lawsuits five years to…

AirFX,LLC
(“Defendant”), the owner of the trademark AirFX,
suffered a defeat last week in its attempt to “acquire” (or as some might say
“hijack”) the domain name www.airfx.com from its current registrant, Marc Lurie
(“Lurie”…

The year 2013 was continued the trend of the increasing importance of legal issues for the FOSS community. FOSS projects continues to increase from 900,000 in 2012 to 1,000,000 in 2013 according to Black Duck Software. Continuing the…

Nick Woodman, the founder of GoPro, gave a great keynote about the value of “ignorance” for startups. He made the point during a keynote at the recent NVCA lunch in Silicon Valley (we hosted the NVCA Board meeting at our…

The Open Source Summit in Hong Kong last week demonstrates the power of the open source methodology and the OpenStack community. The Summit was the first OpenStack Foundation conference outside of the United States and attracted over 3,000…

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: Hypothetical: A theatrical production company would like to produce a tribute musical production to a songwriter using only the songwriter’s music being performed by the cast of the…

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: A presenter wants to breach our engagement contract by cancelling. Our cancellation clause says that, in the event of cancellation, we get 50% of the engagement fee or actual…

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: We are a dance company who is going to perform in March in the United States. We gave the list of names for Visa purposes last September to the venue. Now we have some changes, we have to…

By Yayi Ding The use of smartphones has proliferated in the past couple of years. Not surprisingly, many of the users of such technology are lawyers! However, even given their immense benefits, the widespread use of smartphones in the…

By Juliya Ziskina After a several weeks-long trial, a federal jury found Ross Ulbricht guilty of running and operating the online black market known as Silk Road on February 4, 2015. (We previously covered opening statements in the case…

By Vijay Kumar Later this month, the Court will hear oral arguments for the patent licensing case Kimble v. Marvel Enterprises, Inc. to decide whether it should overrule Brulotte v. Thys Co. The 1964 Brulotte decision, which has since been…

Legal Dispatches

When legal scholars consider instances over the past 25 years in which the Supreme Court has struck down federal legislation as unconstitutional, two cases come up most frequently: United States v Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995), and United States…

When legal scholars consider instances over the past 25 years in which the Supreme Court has struck down federal legislation as unconstitutional, two cases come up most frequently: United States v Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995), and United States…

Is President Obama’s health-care law dead? Ever since the United States Supreme Court heard arguments about its constitutionality in late March, speculation has been rife that, at a minimum, the Justices will strike down the individual…

Well…it’s that time of year again where everyone can sit down and give thanks for all we have been given. I for one, am extremely thankful what what God has bestowed upon me and my family. Hopefully, you and yours…

Presentation: “Partly Sunny with a Chance of Rain II”: Forecasting the Legal Issues in Cloud Computing

Below is a link to my presentation on the legal issues presented in cloud computing, updated from my original presentation on the topic 3 years ago. This presentation was well attended and received by the Dallas Bar Association’s…

You Own Devices Act Congressman Blake Farenthold (R-TX) recently reintroduced to committee H.R.862, You Own Devices Act (YODA), to amend title 17, United States Code. If enacted, the bill will provide that the first sale…

LOC NewsNet Issue 567 February 5, 2015 Copyright Office Releases Comprehensive Music Licensing Study The U.S. Copyright Office has released a comprehensive study, “Copyright and the Music Marketplace,” detailing the aging music…

In 2007, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its Register Guard decision allowing employers to prohibit employees from using company email to engage in discussions about the terms and conditions of their work with other employees…

The FTC released two guides on the privacy and security issues related to the Internet of Things. The first is a staff report based on discussions in an FTC-hosted workshop on the subject held on November 19, 2013. In addition to…

Lessons From the Sony Pictures Cyberattack: Preparing Against a Hack Coming to a Computer Near You

Target. Home Depot. Neiman Marcus. This isn’t a list of places to shop. These companies were hit with some of the biggest data breach incidents of 2014. And, as the recent hack on Sony Pictures Entertainment demonstrates, it’s not…

LeJune Law Firm Blog

A copyright is a form of protection granted to the author of an original work. This work could be a song, a painting, a picture, poetry, movies, software, books, and even architecture. If you have created an original work and ……

Oracle sued Google for both patent and copyright infringement, alleging that Google’s Android smartphone operating system was too similar to its proprietary software. The jury determined that Google did not infringe Oracle’s…

Photographers have long battled copyright infringement of their works, and the popularity of the internet has made . copyright infringement of photography even more .pervasive. Many internet users are not familiar with copyright laws,…

Lenz Blog

I just finished reading the first couple of chapters of a new book by Jeremy Leggett released today. I recall having reviewed (favorably) his 2013 book “The Energy of Nations” on this blog. The title of this book is “The…

According to SPIEGEL (in German), the German government has sued the EU Commission over their decision to treat the German feed-in tariff as “State aid”, with the consequence of requiring approval by the EU Commission for all…

As Spiegel and many others report, the German Wind Energy Association BWE has announced figures for 2014. They are a new record 4.75 GW, breaking the 12 year old record of 2002 (3.2 GW). That sounds like good news, and it is. The bad news is…

To advance U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives, the U.S. maintains laws and regulations that impose economic sanctions against certain countries, individuals, and entities (the "U.S. Sanctions Program"). 31 C.F.R.…

In most U.S. states, merely using a trademark confers trademark rights to the owner. As such, many companies question why they should spend time and money registering their trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office…

Ninth Circuit Rejects Claims for Contributory Cybersquatting Under the ACPA

On December 4, 2013, in Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) v. GoDaddy.com, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”) does not provide a cause…

Lexero Law Firm Blog

Litigation is the legal process through which the plaintiff and defendant (litigants) argue their side in court to achieve a specific outcome (monetary award, injunction to stop use of patented invention, avoidance of paying a settlement,…

If you’ve been accused of ‘stealing’ a patented invention, you may face a myriad of legal obstacles that could result in the loss of time and money for your business due to fighting the charges brought against you. Patents…

Litigation is not the only option when it comes to reaching a settlement with another party. Litigants can agree to other means such as mediation or arbitration to reach an agreement that’s fair for both sides. Unfortunately, once a…

As I was reading Roy Kaufmann’s testimony on behalf of the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at the recent Congressional hearing on "Copyright Issues in Education and for the Visually Impaired," I was struck by CCC’s boilerplate…

What the University of Arkansas controversy can teach us about archival permission practice

(By Peter Hirtle) By now most archivists and many librarians will have heard something about the controversy concerning the use of material found in Special Collections at the University of Arkansas. Researchers from the Washington Free…

When a library consortium buys an ebook, does the market dry up for that book? : A Super quick interview with Jo Budler, Kansas State Librarian

Minow: Jo, some publishers tell me that if a library consortium buys an ebook, the publisher makes one sale instead of, say 100. Do you agree? Budler: Well, no, that is not how we have seen it work here in...

Few people in business, and few lawyers, appreciate the importance of integrating design and legal thinking in the two related processes of brand design and trade mark registration.
Experienced trade mark lawyers know that not all trade…

“When the wind of change blows, some build walls while others build windmills.”
If you had to choose a word or phrase to describe China, what would it be? Populous? Changing fast? What about innovative? That is in fact…

Are bloggers and those who post in social media journalists are Australian law?
The question has important legal implications. The answer varies greatly depending on the area of law or legal context.
A great deal has been written on the…

What with all the hoopla over controversial and headline-making cases, it’s tempting sometimes to forget about the need to drill and to stay up to date on the everyday craft of trademark law. So when John Welch sees fit to…

Since I now work for the USPTO, I believe it's imprudent to continue commenting on these appellate decisions, so I have decided to stop blogging on IP matters. But feel free to drop by my wine blog at http://bighousewine.blogspot.com. No…

Nike was recently rewarded for pulling a potentially risky litigation move: trying to avoid a troublesome DJ/cancellation counterclaim by unilaterally issuing a broad covenant-not-to-sue. This move is a little like surrendering without…

The First Circuit recently held that an insurer was not required to defend and indemnify its insured against claims for misleading product labeling.Accused of deceptive trade practices, false and misleading advertising, and deceptive labeling…

Lipton, Weinberger & Husick Blog

Dear Doc: I read recently that music stars Robin Thicke, Pharrell “Hat” Williams and Clifford “TI” Harris Jr. have sued the late Marvin Gaye’s kids. Thicke and his buddies, according to the news, claim that they…

Readers may recall that in our July newsletter we reported on the wonderland Supreme Court decision in Alice v. CLS Bank. The offspring of the mischief that decision created have now formed a deluge of cases during the past month and a half…

2014 was an interesting year in data breach litigation in California at both the federal and state level. As always is the case in data breach cases, the requirement of a cognizable harm or “standing” took center…

As a follow up to my previous post, I now want to get into a liability analysis relating to the type of claims Sony could advance against media companies. Though not addressed in the letter itself, liability is highly questionable…

After serving as an industry punching bag for the last month, Sony recently decided to punch back regarding its recent data breach and attendant publicity surrounding the incident. The method chosen by Sony was to hire one of the…

Every year the NFL’s trademark attorneys aggressively send cease and desist letters to business using the term “Super Bowl,” threatening them with the trademark law equivalent of traumatic brain injury. Even churches are not granted…

This is not your ordinary trademark infringement case. It involves Grammy Awards ceremony tickets, allegedly sold by now ex-Recording Academy member and trademark attorney – Matthew Blakely – to alleged swindler and trademark infringer…

Sam Smith To Pay Tom Petty Copyright Royalties For &quot;Stay With Me&quot; Song

Sam Smith's hit song "Stay With Me" was reportedly the subject of a copyright dispute with Tom Petty claiming that it infringed his "I Won't Back Down" hit song. Here's a third party's analysis and comparison of the two…

Guest Blogger: Patent Attorney David Stephenson This is the first part in a series discussing issues facing the independent inventor in the field of biotechnology. In the field of biotechnology, the USPTO often requires that a patent…

We post a lot about modern patent law issues, but sometimes it helps to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of the origins of patent law and its long, rich history. Recently, the University of Southern California put together…

Guest Blogger: Ashley Ann Czechowski, University at Buffalo Law student On December 2, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments to decide if decisions by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to refuse or cancel registration of…

By: Callie L. Pioli The music industry did not get far into 2015 before delivering a blockbuster copyright case. Pharrell Williams’ and Robin Thicke’s 2013 hit Blurred Lines was in fact only 50% their hit, according to a jury…

MBBP client Iora Health has announced an innovative plan to keep you out of the hospital and still make money. There’s no shortage of personal stories stating the classic case of healthcare complications and costs standing in the way of…

Massachusetts and Federal law requires that employers pay overtime to non-exempt employee’s that work more than 40 hours a week. Which means employers can be liable for overtime even if the hours were not authorized. To minimize the…

The 2014 Libel season kicks off in style with three separate actions against three tabloids. As revealed by the Huffington Post today the main tabloids account for the majority of complaints to the Press Complaints Commission - the…

The retrial of Knox and Sollecito for the murder of Metedith Kercher has returned a guilty verdict and seen the sentence increased. Latest from BBC News http://bbc.in/LffAnLThe verdict was received as a shock by some while welcomed by others…

The 14th Edelman Trust Barometer was unveiled to the great and good at Davos this week – as well as to the rest of us.The 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed that the biggest decline was trust in government and business. While business…

The latest advancements in the medical world include devices that are focused on invasive, internal uses of technology to limit surgical trauma and improve the function of implanted instruments. These accomplishments have recently received…

Medical device patents continue to show the full range research and technology are having on modern medicine. The latest patent approvals include those that affect imaging, cancer fighting therapy, treatment of life threatening aneurysms and…

Many veteran's suffer from Hepatitis C. A horrible disease with no cure, until maybe now.
A few weeks ago I met and discussed Hepatitis C with a Bristol drug representative who discussed how the new Hep C medicines were actually curing…

Today, the Alamo fell to the Mexican Army under the command of General Santa Ana.
After holding off a far numerically superior army for 13 days the final assault began shortly after midnight. Using darkness and a calm the Mexican army crept…

The following list was sent to us by one of our good friends, Chip Beazley, of Alabama.
We take pride the members of the Law Office of Robert B. Goss, P.C. http://www.attorneyforveterans.com are all military veterans or the spouse of a…

Colleague, Travis Johnson and I will be fielding patent-related questions at the Venture Cafe in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA, from 4-5 pm this Thursday, 17 April 2012. Please stop by. Colleague Cynthia Gilbert will join us again next…

Per a request from Inovia, I recently wrote a guest for their Foreign Filing Blog, entitled, "Inside Perspective on Patenting at the African Regional Intellectual Property Office", where I shared some insights that I thought readers would…